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This story is dedicated to the memory of Maggie Stables, who played Evelyn Smythe, companion to the Sixth Doctor on Big Finish's rage of audio adventures.
“Well?”
“Tell me again,” said the Doctor.
Maxus rolled his eyes as Tylaya rubbed his back. “I’ve already told you twice.”
“Tell me thrice,” said the Doctor.
“I saw Alice.”
“And you’re sure it was her? Not just Tylaya stood at the end of the bed.”
“Yes,” said Tylaya sarcastically, “because I like to linger at the bottom of beds and pretend to be someone I’m not.”
“Tylaya was in the bed next to me,” said Maxus.
“A dream perhaps.”
“No,” said Maxus. “It wasn’t a dream. It’s was her. It was Alice and she wants her body back.”
“Hmmm,” said the Doctor, putting his fingers into a steeple formation.
“You said you’d find a way.”
The Doctor shook his head. “Alice has gone. I’ve come to terms with that now. I may not like it, but she’s gone.”
“Clearly she’s not if she’s still stalking the TARDIS corridors. I told you about what happened with the mirror as well.”
The Doctor exhaled deeply and closed his eyes. “I suppose I could do a scan for any lingering psychic patterns.”
“And what will that tell us?”
“I really don’t know,” said the Doctor. “You have to be patient with these things.” He struggled up off the sofa and made his way to the console. He flicked a few switches and slow, rhythmic pulsating began to reverberate through the console room. “This may take some time.”
“We’ve got all the time in the world,” said Tylaya.
“No,” said Maxus, “we need to get married.”
“Yes,” said Tylaya, “but not until this is sorted out.”
“That’s why we don’t have all the time in the world,” said Maxus.
The TARDIS suddenly lurched violently as the time rotor began moving up and down faster and faster.
“Has it found something?” said Maxus.
“No,” said the Doctor. “The tracking systems are still running. But we’ve been drawn into the time stream of another time ship.”
“Huh?” said Tylaya, getting to her feet.
“Would you believe it’s another TARDIS. My TARDIS.” He checked the readings. “We’re following it down to the machine world of Centrix.” The Doctor narrowed his eyes. “Centrix…it sounds familiar…”
Across the depths of space, the metallic world known as Centrix hung in the sky against a glittering blanket of stars and beautiful, rainbow coloured nebulae. The inhabitants of Centrix, however, had no need for such beauty. They were simply robots. They had feelings, but all they were bothered about was running the biggest cargo company the universe had seen.
Standing on top of one of the metal bridges that swept over the many metallic ravines of Centrix was a blond, curly-haired man in a multicoloured coat, and an older lady with grey hair and a green cardigan.
The man was the Sixth incarnation of the Doctor. The woman was university professor Evelyn Smythe.
“Welcome to Centrix, Evelyn!”
“It’s beautiful,” said Evelyn Smythee as she looked out over the metal mountains and into the valleys. “It’s breathtaking.”
“I take it you like it then,” smiled the Doctor.
“I do. Doctor this is amazing. It’s just what we need after all the problems of late.”
“That’s what I thought,” said the Doctor.
“But why Centrix? Why this planet?”
“Oh, well…,” the Doctor fumbled with his cat badge pinned to his lapel, “well, no reason really.”
“Doctor, what year is this?” asked Evelyn suspiciously. She’d been reading about Centrix in the TARDIS databanks before they had arrived and a worrying thought had struck her.
“Well…it’s the 46th century.”
“Doctor!” said Evelyn aghast. “I was reading about this place, and the 46th century was one of the most dangerous periods in this planet’s history!”
“It was also one of the most exciting times and places to be,” said the Doctor with a smile.
“Something about a war, if I recall?”
“The story of the Centrix robots has always intrigued me. I don’t know why I stayed away from their war for so long.”
“Because it was a war, Doctor. And maybe you had more sense in your previous incarnations. This is dangerous,” said Evelyn with raised eyebrows.
“But don’t you find it fascinating? Two warring factions of service robots, fighting all because they want to be the biggest and best cargo haulage company around.”
“As I said, I find it downright dangerous. It’s ludicrous.”
The Doctor put an arm around Evelyn and guided her towards the edge of the bridge. He pointed into the distance. “See over there, that’s the command tower from which the leader of the Centrix-A robots runs his operations. And over there,” he pointed towards the eastern hemisphere, “is where the Centrix-B robots are from. Oh, I don’t agree with the war, but most wars are fought over religion and land and opinions. This is fought simply over cargo haulage!”
Evelyn shook her head in disbelief. She knew the Doctor wasn’t cruel or callous, but sometimes he did infuriate her.
“Come on!” said the Doctor excitedly as he began to cross the bridge towards the Centrix-A sector.
Evelyn sighed. “Here we go again.”
The TARDIS slowly materialised and the door opened. The Doctor stepped out followed by Tylaya and Maxus. Maxus was looking more and more annoyed than he usually did.
“It’ll be fine,” said Tylaya, taking his hand.
“I just…I just want to be married.”
“I know,” she said.
Maxus waited until the Doctor was out of earshot and then turned to her. “Do you think he’ll let us go?”
She looked to the Doctor as his surveyed the twisted metal landscape. “I don’t know. I hope so. Since Cologne I feel a little more…comfortable with him.”
“But there’s this whole Alice thing. I mean what if she’s there in the TARDIS. He may try and put her back inside your head.”
Tylaya shook her head. “I know the Doctor was devastated when he lost her, but even he’s not so cruel as to execute me to save her. The Doctor just doesn’t do that.”
“I hope you’re right,” said Maxus.
She turned and smiled. “If she is in the TARDIS, we’ll find a way. Don’t worry, Quinn.”
“Come on you two,” said the Doctor impatiently.
“What are you expecting to find here?” said Maxus. “You said it was your own TARDIS. How is that even possible?”
“I’m a time traveller,” said the Doctor. “I’m bound to run into myself on rare occasions.”
“So it’s you in a previous body that we’ve followed here?”
“Exactly,” said the Doctor. “Normally I wouldn’t have followed him down, but the TARDIS seemed determined to land.”
“Then how come you can’t remember?” said Tylaya.
“Time has a tendency to muddle with your head. I always have a faint memory when I meet my previous selves, but the memories are largely locked away,” he said, tapping his right temple. “Similarly my past self won’t really remember this.”
“So which one of you is he?” said Tylaya.
“I don’t know,” said the Doctor. “One of the more happier ones I hope. Ah!” He pointed to a spire in the distance. “We should head over there.”
The Doctor and Evelyn’s progress to the tower had been a pretty quick one until the Doctor spotted some gleaming black metal halfway down the dirt track. He squinted to make out the shape and as it came closer it appeared to be a large, metal robot with missiles mounted on it’s side and caterpillar tracks underneath it. It hadn’t noticed the Doctor and Evelyn and had it’s back turned to them, seemingly watching something far off.
“Doctor,” said Evelyn worriedly, “I don’t think we should go near that thing.”
“Amazing,” whispered the Doctor. “That must be one of the Advance Weapon Drones. An AWD.”
“Well you don’t really want to go near it, do you?” said Evelyn as the Doctor beckoned for her to stay back and he moved in a little closer.
“Nonsense. He’s too pre-occupied with whatever he’s watching. This is an excellent opportunity to observe him at what he does best.”
“Oh for goodness sake. You talk about it as if it’s a nature show.”
“He won’t harm me. He won’t even know we’re here.”
The Doctor was wrong. The AWD suddenly snapped around, it’s red visor glowing brightly and it‘s guns whirring into life.
“Ah,” said the Doctor, realising he was in big trouble. For a moment the two of them, both alien to each other, simply eyed each other up. The AWD seemed to be scanning the area and trying to work out the Doctor’s physiognomy.
Then it attacked. It was sudden and vicious. The guns whirred to point at the multicoloured form of the Doctor and blasted a few, lethal pulses at him. The Doctor was knocked backwards. Evelyn yelled as the Doctor landed with a thud next to the edge of the bridge.
From out of nowhere there came two blasts of an energy weapon and the Doctor got the impression that the AWD had been blasted back along the bridge. He didn’t dare open his eyes. He couldn’t open his eyes. The pain was too much. He felt himself slipping into nothingness.
The blast had been life saving for the Doctor. The AWD was now rolling off into the distance whilst a huge white and red robot stood before Evelyn and the unconscious Doctor. Evelyn’s first thoughts were to panic and run, but then she realised that this robot had just saved the Doctor’s life.
“Who-who are you?” asked Evelyn nervously.
“The name’s Sparx,” said the robot in a thundering voice. “What are you doing here?” he asked as he bent down over the Doctor, his huge hand moving the Doctor’s head from side to side.
“The Doctor wanted to visit your world.”
“This is a war zone,” said Sparx calmly. “Sneaking up on an AWD wasn’t the best thing your friend could have done today.”
“I tried to warn him,” said Evelyn shakily.
“Well that can’t be helped now. I was working on some sensor arrays in the valley. Looks like the AWD had been spying on me. When I heard the commotion I came looking. The Centrix-B robots are violent, but when the AWD’s are taken by surprise they’re not so clever.’
“Where do you think it is now?” asked Evelyn, nervously looking around her.
“Oh, it’s probably gone rolling back to it’s hemisphere. Pathetic.” Sparx looked back down at the Doctor. “We’ll have to take him back to our Chief Medical Officer.”
“Will he live?” asked Evelyn. She knew the Doctor had regenerative capabilities, but at the moment she was more concerned about keeping him alive in this body.
“We’ll have to ask the CMO about that one. He’s a medic for Centrix robots, not Humans.”
Sparx was about to pick up the Doctor when there was a slash and an axe slammed down into his shoulder. He screamed in agony and fell to the floor. There was another flash of an axe and this time it slammed into Sparx’s head. Evelyn screamed as Sparx fell to the floor with a thud and went silent and still. Standing over Sparx’s prone form was a large, silver robot with a black head and a red crystalline face.
‘Sparx!’ cried Evelyn as she knelt over the giant robot. The gash in his head was leaking what looked like glowing blue liquid. It was almost like liquid electricity.
The silver robot brandished the axe, the red crystals glowing a violent red colour. He was about to attack Evelyn when two pulses shot out from down the road, flying over the robots head. It panicked, and turned and ran before blasting two rocket launches on it’s back and flying across the metallic wasteland.
Evelyn stumbled away from Sparx and back to the Doctor. She began to cry and rested her head on the Doctor’s chest. Soon the sound of an alien-looking vehicle mounted with cannons came from the direction of the other side of the bridge. Evelyn looked up as the ambulance screeched to a halt.
She looked back down to the Doctor. His eyes were open and he was smiling.
“Doctor!” she cried. “Are you okay?”
“Never felt better,” said the Doctor. “It was touch and go there for a while, but I think I’m going to be alright.”
The vehicle pulled up and a small blue robot jumped out. He had a green visor for a face and his arms were long with normal fingers and hands. “What happened to Sparx?” said the blue robot.
The Doctor sat up and shook his head. “I believe he must have been attacked by that brute you just frightened away.”
“Hmm,” said the robot. “That was Cyclone. He’s one of the generals of the Centrix-B robots.” The blue robot looked back at the two humanoids. “And who are you?”
“My names Evelyn Smythe and this is the Doctor. We’re visitors to your world.”
“It’s a dangerous place to visit,” said the robot. He nodded. “My name’s Hi-Tek.”
“Nice to meet you, Hi-Tek,” said the Doctor. “Now if you’ll forgive us, we must be going.”
“No,” said Hi-Tek, “General Obsidian is going to want to see you. You’re coming to the tower with me.”
Progress had been good as the Doctor and his friends reached the tower. As they approached, a yellow robot with red arms and legs approached, a gun mounted on his arm, it’s caterpillar tracks causing the ground to vibrate.
“Halt!” it said. “Who are you?”
“I’m the Doctor,” said the Doctor. “And these are my friends, Tylaya and Maxus.”
“What are you doing here?” said the robot, it’s drone-like voice showing no sign of emotion.
“Curiosity,” said the Doctor with a smile.
“You are working for the Centrix-B robots, are you not?”
“Who?” said Maxus.
“Not at all,” said the Doctor. “Never. We are simply here to explore your wonderful world.”
“This is a war zone,” said the robot. “You will leave immediately.”
The Doctor looked past the robot to the large entrance door. “Are there any other non-robotic life forms here?”
“Negative,” said the robot.
“Are you sure?”
“I think we should just go,” said Tylaya. “Maybe the TARDIS has finished it’s scans now.”
The Doctor turned to Tylaya. “I need to know why the TARDIS insisted we landed here though. It must have something to do with my previous self. He must be in some kind of danger.”
There came a rumbling of engines from their left and a medical vehicle carrying the damaged body of Sparx appeared.
“Looks like one of them had a disagreement with another,” said Maxus.
The vehicle came to a stop and a grey-haired woman clambered out of the inside of the vehicle, followed by Hi-Tek.
“Evelyn!” said the Doctor with a gleeful smile.
Evelyn looked at him. “Do I know you?” she said.
“Oh no,” came another, familiar voice. The other Doctor followed Evelyn out of the vehicle.
“Jesus,” said Maxus. “Look at that coat!”
“What are you doing here?” said the Sixth Doctor.
“I could as you the same question,” said the Doctor.
“I don’t understand,” said Tylaya. “Who is he?”
“He’s me,” said the Doctor. “Me. No.6.”
“I prefer to be called, the Doctor.”
Tylaya, Maxus and Evelyn all looked at each other. This day had certainly started getting stranger.
The Doctor, the Sixth Doctor, Evelyn, Tylaya and Maxus were escorted through the large doorway at the base of the spire and into a huge, metal corridor. It was dark and the door slammed shut behind them with an ominous thud.
At the end of the corridor was another doorway with a row of light beams barring any intruders.
Hi-Tek held his palm out to a sensor pad.
“ACCESS GRANTED” said a computer voice.
The bars disappeared and he ushered the group through the doorway and into a large room full of computers and huge screens covering all of the walls.
All around were robots of all shapes and sizes monitoring battles in the distance and analysing data.
A large, green robot with caterpillar tracks and huge canon-like arms rolled over. “Who are these people?” asked the robot.
Hi-Tek looked a little flustered. “They are travellers. They were found outside the perimeter.”
The robots big, one-eyed face looked at the strange group. “Did you know this planet was out of bounds?”
“I’m afraid we didn’t,” said the Sixth Doctor, an apologetic look on his face, “but if you let my friends and I go I can assure you that-”
“No,” interrupted the robot.
“No?” quizzed the Doctor.
“It is too dangerous out there. You must be kept here until nightfall when the battles have eased off.” He rolled off.
“Well,” said Evelyn with a chuckle, “at least we fell in with the good guys.”
“In war there’s no such thing as good guys and bad guys,” said the Doctor.
The Sixth Doctor rolled his eyes. “What about the Daleks then? Surely the epitomy of bad guys.”
The Doctor smiled. “Believe it or not I’ve met a good Dalek.”
“Listen, you two,” said Tylaya, “what the hell is going on here?”
“Well obviously, young lady, your Doctor and my time stream have gotten a little bit confused.”
“It’s you who’ve got a little bit confused,” said the Doctor.
“I was here first,” said the Sixth.
“To be fair to Coco, here, he’s right. You followed him down,” said Maxus
“Less of the clown business,” said the Sixth, becoming defensive about his multicoloured coat.
“Mate,” continued Maxus, “you could have the lead part in a West End musical back in the Central City.”
“Central City?” said the Sixth with curiosity in his eyes. “So you’re from much further into Evelyn’s future?”
“Yes they are,” said the Doctor, ushering his companions back. “But none of that is any of your business.”
“He’s right, Doctor,” said Evelyn, “you don’t want to know your own future.”
“Oh, pish,” said the Sixth with a wave of the hand. “What number are you anyway?”
The Doctor looked away from the Sixth, unable to meet his stare. “Further than the Eighth, but it all gets a little complicated after that.”
“Oh, do tell,” said the Sixth.
Evelyn gave him a tap on his arm. “Doctor, enough.”
The Doctor smiled at Evelyn. He’d travelled with her for a long time back then and he missed her greatly. She had been the one that had mellowed him out and made him less irascible.
Hi-Tek reappeared from the other side of the room looking a little concerned. “I’ve been negotiating with Obsidian, our leader over there, and he’s agreed that you can both return to your ships.”
“Fantastic news!” said the Doctor.
“However, you’re going to have to wait it out for a while. Intelligence reports that an attack from the Centrix-B robots is imminent. You cannot risk your lives out there.”
“Now wait just a minute-” said the Sixth.
Evelyn held her hands out. “It’s fine, Mr Hi-Tek. We’ll wait here until you and your friends say it’s safe for us to leave.”
“Evelyn-”
“Doctor - Doctors - there is a war going on out there. You were very lucky that you weren’t killed when we first arrived.”
“Oh, but surely-”
Tylaya joined in. “The lady is right. It’s obviously a mistake that we’re all here. It’ll be best for us to wait it out until it’s safe enough to leave.”
“Ty,” said the Doctor, puzzled, “you were a soldier. I’m surprised you’re so eager to stay. Wouldn‘t you rather fight your way out?”
She looked down. “I wasn’t a soldier in this body. Got to keep it safe.”
Maxus touched her arm. “You okay?”
“I’m fine,” she said, pulling away.
Above the metal landscape a huge combat ship silently moved through the acid-clouds, barely disturbing anything around it. Inside the ship was Cyclone at the flight controls, with a squad of around twenty jet-black robots with cannons mounted on their shoulders standing right behind him.
“Everybody to your positions,” said Cyclone, his red crystalline face glistening. “We’re coming up on our target. I don’t want any prisoners. I want them all dead.”
It had been a good half an hour since the two Doctors, Evelyn, Taylaya and Maxus had arrived. The three companions had had a good old natter and gotten to know each other, but the Doctors had remained relatively quiet with each other.
Now they were sat next to each other on the floor whilst the other three were off looking at some of the computers with Hi-Tek.
The Sixth Doctor turned his head. “Are you ok?”
The Doctor mumbled, “Hmmm.”
“You seem a little bit distracted. Are you feeling under the weather?”
“Please,” said the Doctor, “don’t ask me any questions about me.”
He frowned. “Why not? Surely you know that it’s very rare that we retain any information about meetings with each other.”
“That’s true,” said the Doctor. Although he had met his previous selves on numerous occasions, all of the encounters had felt like dreams after the event. They had faded and he only had a slight inclination that they had ever happened.
“Then tell me what’s wrong,” said the Sixth. “I’ll forget.”
“I don’t think you’ll forget this,” said the Doctor sadly.
“Then tell me. Perhaps I can help you.”
The Doctor took a deep breath. “I’m dying.”
The Sixth looked taken aback, and then had a thought. “Is this your last life? Your thirteenth incarnation?”
The Doctor laughed. “No. That was a long, long time ago.”
“So the Time Lords actually granted us a new set of regenerations? That’s…remarkable.”
“I’ve told you enough already. This stuff might stay with you, you know. I could already be changing my future.”
“Then tell me specifically about you.”
He sighed. “There was an accident, during my last regeneration. Something went wrong and now I can’t regenerate anymore.”
“Can’t you ask the Time Lords to help again?”
“Well,” said the Doctor gazing into the distance, “without wanting to give too much away, a lot has happened with the Time Lords since…well, since after your time. I’ve had to rule the Time Lords out.”
“But there has to be a way, surely-”
“I’ve looked at all possible answers. There’s no other way around it. So I’m just waiting for the inevitable now.”
Both of them sat there is silence for a good few minutes.
“No,” said the Sixth finally.
“No?”
“No,” he said again. “I will not allow it. You can’t just accept death like that.”
“I…I don’t want to die,” he said. “I’d accepted it, but then I realised how much more to the universe there is. I wanted to live again. I found my desire to live.”
“Then you have to find a way.”
“There is no way,” said the Doctor. He had a thought. “All I‘ve gotten are cryptic clues.”
“Go on.”
“Something about finding a Mount Cassius. Apparently there are people there that need my help.”
“Never heard of it,” said the Sixth.
“Well don’t go looking for it,” said the Doctor quickly. “It’s my problem to deal with. Not yours.”
“Calm down,” said the Sixth. “You really need to lighten up a bit. And after all, no matter what stage of your life you’re in, you’re still me. I’m entitled to a say in my future.”
Before the Doctor could say anything more the whole room shook and was plunged into darkness.
The Doctor scrambled around and then got to his feet, looking for any form of illumination. He saw various blinking lights coming from the robots around the room, but the whole place was in chaos.
“Doctor!” came Tylaya voice as another boom shook the room.
“Ty!” came Maxus’s voice from on the other side of the room.
Before the Doctor could answer there was a flash of light and the wall beside them caved in. Lights flickered as an army of black robots piled it. The only reason the Doctor could tell they were black was because the red lights from their visors illuminated everything around them.
“No prisoners!” yelled Cyclone.
“No!” screamed Tylaya.
“TYLAYA!” came Maxus’s voice again.
“Evelyn. Evelyn! Are you okay?” came his Sixth incarnations voice.
“Doctor…” came the older ladies voice, distant.
More explosions came and the Doctor was thrown to his feet.
He landed hard on the ground and knocked his head. No, he couldn’t flake out now. He needed to help his friends.
He could hear something in his head. A nursery rhyme being sung by children. It sounded familiar. Amongst the chaos he tried to listen in.
All my incarnations standing in a row
When they are gone, where do they go.
Carried by the darkness on time’s winged glitch
Taken up and eaten by the dreaded Swytch.
Where the fires burn an ice-cold blue
You will find yourself looking at you
So keep your eyes open and keep out of their way
For the Swytch will come and eat you up one day
When the Doctor opened his eyes he was lying outside, a star field peppered with green acid clouds above him. He rubbed the side of his head and sat up. All was quiet. In the distance he could hear the rumblings of laser fire and the occasional louder bang, just like thunder.
He was lying at the base of a huge skyscraper, it’s once blinking lights now all gone out.
And then he noticed an unmoving shape behind a pile of metal rubble.
“Evelyn!”
He dragged himself along the ground, realised he had sprained his ankle and thanked his lucky stars it wasn’t more serious, until he finally reached his former companion.
“Evelyn,” he said again, softer this time, noticing her blackened face start to stir.
“Doctor…” she said, eyes blinking and trying to focus on anything around her.
“Do you feel okay? Is there any pain?”
“Oh,” she said, trying to sit herself up. “Pain?”
The Doctor nodded.
“Only the searing pain across my forehead.”
The Doctor carefully places his hands either side of her head and moved it from left to right.
“No, no,” said Evelyn. “I had a migraine coming on before…this happened.” She gestured with her hands.
The Doctor smiled and then sat next to her, his back against some of the blackened rubble. “We need to find the others. They must be around here somewhere.”
“More likely they’ve been carted off by those Centrix-B robots,” said Evelyn.
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because I saw them.” She pointed into the distance. “Before I passed out I saw two of the tank ones rolling away with your two friends and my Doctor strapped to the top.”
“Hmmm,” said the Doctor, scratching his chin.
“Is none of this coming back to you?”
“I vaguely remember some of it, but I won’t really remembered until we all separate again.”
Evelyn watched him as he continued to look into the distance, his eyes flitting all around. Looking for some sign. Some answer. Her Doctor was quite loud - and she wasn’t talking about his fashion sense - whereas this future Doctor seemed a lot more quieter and thoughtful.
But he also looked broken.
“Doctor,” she said softly. “Is there something wrong?”
“Hmmm?” He turned to look at her and then smiled. “Oh, not really. Not really. Nothing new at least.”
“If you truly are the same man that I met that day back in my lecture hall, then you know you can tell me. We’re friends, remember?”
The Doctor turned and smiled to her. “It seems so stupid even worrying about it.”
“And why’s that?”
“I’ve lived for thousands of years. And I’m going to die.”
Evelyn didn’t say a word.
“And yet you Humans have such short life spans. I’ve had more than my fair share.”
“That doesn’t mean you should die. I take it there’s no way to help you?”
“Apparently there is a way, but I’m struggling to find the time to actually find out how that is. There always seems to be something else that needs doing.”
She took his hand and smiled sadly. “If there’s one thing I’ve learnt, Doctor, is that the universe definitely needs you. It definitely needs the Doctor. It doesn’t matter what you look like or who travels with you. The universe needs you.”
He smiled at her. He missed her optimism.
“I’m an old lady, Doctor, and I doubt I have much puff left in me, but I would have been a darn sight sadder if I hadn’t at least spent my twilight years with you.”
“Thank you, Evelyn,” he said softly.
“So you just jolly well get yourself out there and find out how to put yourself right.”
A sound in the distance distracted the both of them from their conversation.
“Now come on,” she said, struggling to her feet and brushing down the metallic particles, “we need to go and find your friends and my Doctor, otherwise none of this will even matter.”
The Sixth Doctor, Tylaya and Maxus had woken up a large, church-like hall with black walls and black metallic floor tiles. A large computer screen adorned the far wall and sinister looking robots of all shapes and sized marched up and down.
The silver robot that had attacked the Doctor and Sparx earlier on marched up to them, their hands chained to each other, and knelt down to their level.
“Why have you brought us here?”
Cyclone pointed a finger at the Doctor. “You have been working with the Centrix-A robots. You know of their plans.”
“Rubbish,” said Tylaya, wincing. A piece of rubble had hit her jaw and her face had come up in a lovely, purple bruise. “We aren’t working with anyone. We were simply passing by. We were about to leave.”
“The young lady is correct,” said the Doctor. “Now if you’ll kindly show us to the door, we’ll be on our way.”
“You are not leaving,” said Cyclone, getting to his feet.
Another robot with green armour, a silver head and claws for hands handed a data pad to Cyclone.
“What is it Boomer?”
The robot, Boomer, pointed at the readouts on the data pad. “This brainwaves indicate that they are not lying.”
Cyclone turned to face the three prisoners. “Then maybe they can be of use to us. We can use them as hostages. Make the Centrix-A robots surrender.”
“Why would they be bothered with us?” said Maxus. “This is your war. We’ve got nothing to do with it. We’re not friends of them.”
“Yes,” said the Doctor. “In fact if anything we were more or less temporary prisoners in their camp.”
Cyclone looked away. He was thinking to himself. After a few seconds he turned back to Boomer. “Take them outside an execute them.”
“What?!” said the Doctor. “Now listen here.”
“Be silent!” roared Cyclone. “You will be executed. We have no time for minor issues like you.”
Tylaya, Maxus and the Doctor glanced at each other worriedly as Boomer grabbed the chain that linked them together and marched them back towards the exit.
The Doctor and Evelyn had only been walking for a few minutes when they came across Hi-Tek staggering around beside a ruined building, electric-blue fuel leaking from a gash in his side.
“Steady,” said the Doctor, making his way over to him.
Hi-Tek collapsed against the building and groaned in pain. “I thought I’d made it out in one piece…”
The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and examined the gash. “It’s pretty bad, but I’m sure I can have you patched up with the right tools.”
“No,” said Hi-Tek. “There’s no time for that. I heard chatter on the comm system. They’re going to execute your friends. The Centrix-B robots have them prisoner.”
“Then we have to go,” said the Doctor.
“But what about Hi-Tek?” said Evelyn. “We can’t leave him to die.”
“And you’ll never make it. It’s a good 50 clicks until you reach their base of operations.”
The Doctor rubbed the top of his head. He was in an impossible situation now.
“I have an idea though…” Hi-Tek clambered to his feet. “I can…I can fly you…there.”
“What?” said Evelyn. “That’s very kind of you, Hi-Tek, but you won’t survive.”
“I’ve got enough juice in me to get your to their compound. It’s the….least I can…do.”
“I can’t ask you to risk your life for us,” said the Doctor.
“Tough,” said Hi-Tek. “I’ve already made my decision.”
He stepped a little way from the Doctor and Evelyn and then turned his back on them. Two rocket jets fired on his back and he rose slightly into the air.
“I’m not sure about this,” said Evelyn.
“I can take you,” said Hi-Tek. “I’m stronger than a look.”
With a worried glance to each other, the Doctor and Evelyn both grabbed a hold of Hi-Tek’s arms.
“Hold on…tight,” he grinned.
The Doctor, Maxus and Tylaya were escorted to the outside of the building. From the outside it looked like a huge, black church with shining spires and glimmering green lights. The whole building seemed to be set inside a large, metallic trench with sentries posted along the rim at regular intervals.
“Well,” said Tylaya, “this is it. Not the way I wanted to go out.”
“Please,” said the Doctor as Cyclone emerged from the doorway, “there has to be a way to reason with you.”
Cyclone looked down on him. “I’ve been fighting this war for many, many years.”
“All over some stupid cargo haulage dispute,” said Maxus with a laugh.
“We will be victorious,” said Cyclone. “I owe it to the ones who came before us. We will fight until the bitter end.”
The Doctor sighed. There simply was no reasoning with them.
They were lined up against the edge of the crater and a squad of black troopers appeared, their guns aimed squarely at them.
“Wait!” said the Doctor. “If you kill me now I will regenerate and it would cause a huge chain reaction. My future will change and everything will fold back on itself erasing your actions now.”
“Then you have nothing to worry about then,” chuckled Cyclone. He lifted his arm. “Ready.”
The troops lifted their weapons.
“Oh, God,” said Maxus.
“Aim.”
The troops aimed their guns.
“Alice, I’m sorry,” said Tylaya softly.
“FIRE!”
But the troops didn’t fire. At least not at the three prisoners. Instead they were firing up above towards the rim of the crater as Hi-Tek, carrying the Doctor and Evelyn in his arms, swooped down. Most of the shots missed, but one hit Hi-Tek full-on in his chest.
He began tumbling to the ground and the Doctor and Evelyn managed to jump clear as he crashed to the ground with a metallic thud.
“Kill him! Growled Cyclone.
“Get out of here,” said Hi-Tek to the Doctor’s, Evelyn, Tylaya and Maxus.
“But-” started the Doctor.
Hi-Tek pointed towards his chest. The electric-blue fuel was bubbling. He nodded to both Doctor’s and they sadly nodded back, understanding what was about to happen to the brave robot.
“Let’s get out of here,” said Maxus, grabbing Tylaya’s hand and making a run up the side of the crater whilst Cyclone’s forces concentrated on the helpless Hi-Tek.
They were almost at the top of the ridge when the fuel inside Hi-Tek combusted and ignited. The explosion was that great that the time travellers were thrown over the edge and the Centrix-B castle was partially blown in two. The guards were sent scattering and Cyclone was thrown across the ground, smashing his head against the metal wall of the castle.
The Doctor took one last look at the carnage below. Hi-Tek had given them an escape route. They had to take it.
“Come on,” said the Doctor. “We need to get out of here now.”
Almost an hour later the two Doctor’s, Tylaya, Evelyn and Maxus were gathered around both TARDISes. The Centrix-A robots had been kind enough to collect them up for them. Evelyn looked sad whereas Tylaya and Maxus simply looked relieved.
“Well,” said the Sixth Doctor, holding out a hand to Maxus and Tylaya, “it was a pleasure meeting the two of you. Not that I’ll remember it, of course. Well, I will do one day.” He smiled.
They shook his hand and then Evelyn’s.
“Take care of him,” said Tylaya to Evelyn. “I want to make sure he’s around so we’re still around. If you get what I mean.”
Evelyn chuckled. “I think I do, dear.”
The two of them went into their respective TARDIS and closed the door.
The Doctor took Evelyn’s hands and smiled at her warmly. “I’ll miss you.”
“Oh, I’m sure we’ll run into each other again, Doctor,” she said, hopefully.
He smiled sadly. He knew in his heart he would never meet her again. She was long gone. “One thing that comforts me, Miss Smythe, is that no matter where I am and what time I am, I will always be somewhere out there travelling with you.” He kissed her on the cheek. “Goodbye, Evelyn.”
She smiled, tears in her eyes and then turned to her TARDIS. She looked one last time at him. “And remember what I said - the universe needs the Doctor.”
And with that she was gone.
The two Doctor’s stood facing each other, both with their hands in their trouser pockets.
“This place,” said the Sixth Doctor. “I wonder when it will all end. Their stupid war.”
“Eventually,” said the Doctor. “But not yet I suspect.”
The Sixth Doctor smiled. “I suppose not all things are there for us to fix.”
“No,” said the Doctor.”
“Well,” said the Sixth, “I’m ready to forget. And I expect that will happen the moment my TARDIS takes off.”
“Indeed,” said the Doctor.
He nodded. “I don’t think I need to say any more to you.” He turned and opened his TARDIS door. “I think Evelyn said it all quite well enough.”
He nodded back at him and watched as his Sixth incarnation disappeared into his TARDIS. A few seconds later their was a rush of wind and the TARDIS disappeared.
EPILOGUE
The Doctor was quietly sat on the sofa reading a book when Tylaya and Maxus walked in, hand in hand.
“Everything okay?” asked Tylaya.
“Everything’s fine,” said the Doctor, closing the book and returning to the console controls.
“We still need to talk about Alice,” said Maxus.
“I know,” said the Doctor through gritted teeth. The scans were still incomplete and they had quite some way to go yet.
“Then maybe now-”
But Tylaya’s words were cut short by a gust of wind. The lights in the console room flickered and then went out. When they flickered back on again, Alice Stokes was standing beside the console room, her face white and furious.
Tylaya, for the first time in her life, screamed.
TO BE CONTINUED
Next time: It's a family affair as Tylaya returns to Central City to say goodbye to her parents, the Doctor has an encounter with one of Alice's sisters, and the Masters plan begins to be revealed with a flashback to a time from long ago. Darkpaths continues in "Family", coming Sunday 2nd November 2014.
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